Saturday, 8 July 2017

where's the chaos gone?

“We want to rebel against what we
grew up knowing” editor of Arcca magazine, Fleur Adderley explains. We are
sitting in a dimly lit Tudor café on Tonbridge High Street, a town
situated just close enough to London for it to be known for its sad commuters. However,
there is nothing at all sad or provincial about Adderley, or the magazine that
she founded and edits. Arcca began in 2015, when Adderley was just sixteen
years old. What started as a project between friends has expanded into a
celebration of youth, art and beautiful chaos. It went into print earlier this
year, joining the brigade of independent publications rejecting the
accessibility of digital media. Magazines like Polyester and Sunday Girl have
revived print culture for the internet generation, and Arcca has followed suit.
“Everything is so easy to access now, so it starts to lose its sense of
importance. Print keeps things precious” Adderley tells me, reflecting the thoughts
of many young people today. This obsession with keeping things precious can be
seen in Generation Z’s love for vinyl records and film photography; both of
which are cherished by the archetypal reader of Adderley’s magazine.

The latest issue of Arcca

Arcca is an organised chaos; a
collage of voices pieced together by Adderley to create a mosaic-like finished
product. It lets people say what they want to say and isn’t afraid to be unconventional.
“I think there should be more artists who are confronting political ideas with a
really controversial approach” Adderley states. Being inspired by the 1960s and
well-read in philosophy, it is easy to see why she feels this way. The current
political climate is so chaotic it seems that the art world is still figuring
out how to respond to it. Through Arcca, Adderley wants to actively challenge
beauty standards and the way we confront the world. Her ambitious business mind
keeps Arcca’s creative chaos in check. “I’m going to have to have no fear and
just go into independent shops in London and show them the magazine and if
that’s a success then that’s how I’ll start making it grow in other cities” she
says boldly. This fearlessness drives Arcca in both a business sense and a
creative one. Adderley’s confidence is backed up by the daring articles and
photographs that define Arcca. Her vision for the magazine is outstanding
considering she is still studying for her A-Levels, with hope to study English
and Philosophy at Bristol next Autumn. However, the rise of Arcca is also peppered
with much more unconventional marketing techniques. Adderley recounts how her
and her friend ripped up sugar packets in a coffee shop to make business cards
to hand out to people around East Dulwich. Anecdotes like these are reminders
of the magazine’s authentic beginnings.

Fleur's photography in Arcca Issue 4

Adderley’s first inspiration was her
big sister, who used to make up games for them to play together. “We played
this amazing fairy game that I’ll never forget where we were all warrior
fairies. I couldn’t get over how she could come up with all these ideas on the
spot. We wrote a whole story about the game we played.” There has been a
creative thread running through Adderley’s life ever since. Not only does she
work on Arcca, but she makes films and music too. It seems of growing
importance for millennials to take a multimedia approach to creativity.
Occupations no longer fall into such neat categories, and instead there are a
growing number of people who fit into the vague bracket of being a creative. This umbrella term aptly
describes the sort of people that Arcca gives a voice to. “I’m really proud to
have created something that does unite so many young people” says Adderley, who
dreams of creating a Warhol style Factory to nurture young creatives.

Fleur's photography in Arcca Issue 3

Keeping motivated to pursue every
creative avenue must be hard work, but Adderley takes it all in her stride by
finding inspiration in the simplest fragments of the world around her. “I
always force myself to look up because I always see people walking around and
looking at the floor and I just can’t get my head round that” she explains. Adderley
finds inspiration everywhere she looks, if she looks at it in the right way. We
are satiated with images and writing that aims to inspire us, but it is
important to be able to step back and look at the things in your life that you
might not expect to inspire you.

When I ask Adderley where she hopes
to be in five years’ time, she replies, “I’m going to carry on dreaming.” She
may have asked, “Where’s the chaos gone?”, but if you look closely you can see
that it is all around us. Arcca creates a space for people to harness that
chaos and turn it into something thought provoking and beautiful.

ABOUT

Hi I’m Sophie. I’m a writer and freelance fashion journalist based in Kent/London. I keep this blog to document my interests and various style inspirations. You can contact me at sophie.wilson09a@hotmail.co.uk